With Advent upon us, it is not much time until Christmas will be here (and then gone). Did you realize there is actually a Financial Advent Calendar on this very site? You can consult it here.
With interest rates slowly rising, is it time to rethink short term savings? A good example is your RESPs for your kids. Should you be thinking about using GICs to ensure the money grows slowly but safely? Can you even use GICs in your child’s RESP? All good questions. Now you can get GICs with interest rates above 2%, maybe you should at least be putting your kids’ Grant money and put that in there? Remember it is near year end, if there is room still left you should put a top up to get to your $2500 yearly maximum payment to the RESP.
My view of the Stock Market is it is currently having a shart. If you are unclear on what a shart means, please clock on the link. This shart might become something worse soon, given the trade stupidity going on, but for nice it is a mess caused by someone thinking they were only letting off gas.
Are planning on playing the Christmas Money Polka this season? It’s a simple game where you have bought many things on credit, and when the bill arrives in January, because you didn’t budget well you take the cash you got from family and pay off some of those bills. The money just goes round and round, and at the end of it you feel sick (just like a Polka), and broke.
Did you start your Emergency Fund with the idea that you were going to pay off Christmas with it? That’s not an emergency fund, that is a Christmas Fund. Maybe you should have both? Remember starting to plan for Next Christmas can start before this Christmas. You will have a better Christmas perspective now, than in July next summer.
Recent Articles
I really need to read letters more carefully, as I ended up blundering my way into a very large tax bill because of my inability to read letters well. I outline the predicament of my own creation in CRA and me: Assessment Excitement, the CRA was very helpful is the moral of this story.
Podcast of the Week
Finally you get to see what I actually look like, and you may realize why I have commented that I have a face for Radio. I do like the preview photo makes you wonder what I was thinking.
Advent is Here
Financial Advent is here, which is a time of waiting. No, it is not time to wait until your huge credit card bills arrive in January. It might be a time to wait before you dump your entire portfolio?
- Michael James discusses changes in the Canada Pension Plan, but he wonders about the Bad Arguments Against CPP Expansion. I think CPP expansion is a good idea, but evidently some folks are really upset about it.
- The Blunt Bean Counter brings more solid financial advice with Tax on Split Income (“TOSIâ€) Update. If you have a corporation for tax purposes, why aren’t you reading this site?
- Cut the Crap investing brings us, Retiring early and waiting for your spouse. The waiting is the hardest part. What if your spouse doesn’t want to retire early? Worse, what if they want to, and can’t afford it?
Tweet of the Week
The 2018 Random Thoughts
- GM, PC M/C Changes, Podcasts and #MoneyTalk (November 30th)
- RDSP Awareness , Volatility and #MoneyTalk (October 12th)
- Tech Infiltration , NAFTA/USMCA, WiFi, Tornadoes and #MoneyTalk (October 5th)
- Back to School, London Calling, Basic Cable and #MoneyTalk (September 14th)
- Tighter Money, the 13th , Hydro Savings and #MoneyTalk (July 14th)
- Ganja Tourism, Sneaker Smuggling, Solar Potential and #MoneyTalk (June 22nd)
- Mothers Day, Counterfeit Reality, Higher Stress and #MoneyTalk (May 11th)
- Decisions, Bitcoin, Inflation and #MoneyTalk (April 20th)
- Stock Picking Update, Crypto Credit, and #MoneyTalk (April 13the)
- RDSP, Easter, Thanks Rusty and #MoneyTalk (March 29th)
- Facebook, Spring is here and #MoneyTalk (March 23rd)
- Still Financially Crazy after 13 Years (March 16th)
- Steady Interest Rates, Spring Forward and #MoneyTalk (March 8th)
- Budgets, Phoenix Death, Inflation and #MoneyTalk (March 2nd)
- Potholes, Tuition Increases, and #MoneyTalk (February 23rd)
- RRSP, Lent, Happy Year of the Dog and #MoneyTalk (February 16th)
- Roller Coaster Markets , Olympics and #Moneytalk (February 9th)
- Superb Owls, RDSP Deposit and #MoneyTalk (February 2nd)
- OHIP Overload, Doomsday minus 2 minutes, and #MoneyTalk (January 26th)
- Tighter Money, Best Investment, Go North! and #MoneyTalk (January 19th)
- Paper Delivery, Bitcoin and #MoneyTalk (January 12th)
- Polar Vortexes, Minimum Wage and #MoneyTalk (January 4th)
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I’m curious when would you shift to a GIC from a relatively safe high(ish) yield dividend producing stock. The Canadian banks are all quite stable and all have yields higher than GICs?
I understand the risk mitigating aspect of the move but with GICs return rates so low when does the move start making sense.
Given the shart the markets are currently taking, GICs might prove better now? Yes GIC rates needs to be higher, however, you should read Michael James’ article on Dividend Stocks, as well, just to stay well rounded.
If the markets recover, then stocks will prove a better investment, if they continue to shart we shall see whether GICs may make a comeback.
“That’s not an emergency fund, that is a Christmas Fund.”
When I was a young’un my mother used to put money in to a Christmas fund during the year so she would have money for gifts at Christmas. The bank (CIBC) paid a little extra interest for that fund as you could not use it until December.
Gone are those days when the banks paid you interest so they could use your money – to lend to other people. Now you are charged for letting them use your money if you have been prudent with your spending
RICARDO
I note that the concept of lay away didn’t disappear just the saving vehicle… hmmm….